Attracting new businesses to San Bernardino County so they can provide new employment opportunities for our residents is essential to our economic recovery, but I firmly believe that protecting existing jobs is an even more critical and urgent task for the county in this economic climate.

Since 2007, the San Bernardino-Riverside County area has lost more than 168,000 jobs – mostly in the construction and manufacturing industries. Each lost job represents a county resident without a paycheck and money to spend on eating out, movie tickets, clothes, kitchen appliances, home improvements, or other goods and services.

Like dominoes falling, job losses lead to more job losses as out-of-work residents cut their discretionary spending and business owners who rely on that spending are forced to close their doors for lack of customers.

At the direction of the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors, the county’s Workforce Development Department and Economic Development Agency are working to stop the job-loss cycle by providing local businesses with free workshops and other assistance that can help them avoid layoffs and grow their operations.

Workforce Development, for example, is offering one-on-one professional consulting services designed to help businesses operate more effectively and efficiently under a contract approved by supervisors in February.

The idea is simple. Teach businesses to cut unnecessary costs and increase their profitability, and they won’t have to cut jobs. Instead, businesses can grow and create more jobs once they unlock their full potential.

Workforce Development is also hosting Business Excellence Workshops geared toward our county’s small businesses. The workshops will teach business owners about “Lean Six Sigma” – an internationally recognized business management strategy used by many successful companies to streamline operations and improve customer service.

The San Bernardino County Economic Development Agency has focused its efforts on helping businesses find new customers in both local and international markets. In addition, the agency is helping local businesses secure valuable employment tax credits, recruit new employees, and teach current employees new skills.

There have been some positive signs lately that point to the beginnings of a national economic recovery, but it will take time for the Inland Empire – an epicenter in the foreclosure crisis – to fully rebound from this recession.

In the meantime, the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors must continue placing its focus on providing businesses with assistance programs and resources that preserve local jobs, because that will set the stage for new businesses to arrive and for our county’s economic recovery.

San Bernardino County Supervisor Paul Biane represents the 2nd District, which includes Rancho Cucamonga, Upland, most of Fontana and mountain communities from Mt. Baldy to Crestline and Lake Gregory.